The modular frames for movable wall are used mainly to divide a room into multiple environments, where carrying out an invasive intervention for the modification of the layout of the place, for example, by erecting a partition wall, is not desired.
The frames of the prior art are usually composed of a plurality of upper cross bars secured to the ceiling, vertically on top of a plurality of bases secured to the floor, connected to a plurality of mounts, or uprights, that compose the sides of the frame.
The mount is secured to the cross bar and the base by angular connecting members.
Each of these sides of the frame (cross bars, bases, and mounts) is usually composed of joiners or joiner section bars of couplable by means of screws, or snap-couplable, formed by two portions, generally section bars, connected by screw or snap-fit securing means, which, in the assembled configuration, form a pane compartment that is so configured as to receive an edge portion of the pane and to lock it on both sides of the pane.
The pane compartment of the base further receives a support member, suitable to support the pane weight in the operative position thereof.
The mounting of the wall first occurs by securing a cross bar to the ceiling, vertically on top of a base secured to the floor. A mount is then connected to the cross bar and the base. The pane is rested onto the support member of the base in the vertical operative position thereof. Subsequently, the snap joiners are assembled so that the edge portions of the pane are received in the pane compartments. The method hereto described is repeated so as to place a new pane side by side to the preceding one, thus forming the wall.
Examples are given by the documents, WO 2013/028155, U.S. Pat. No. 8,544,223, U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,405, U.S. Pat. No. 6,260,321, U.S. 2008/134610, U.S. 2009/241443, U.S. 2010/0199596, EP 2 246 495.
The frame structure of the type described above, while being satisfactory from multiple viewpoints, has a number of drawbacks.
First, the frame structure described above does not provide for the possibility of compensating possible errors in the relative vertical positioning between the cross bar and the base during the installation. This forces to the use of skilled labor, and it further involves an increase in the installation times.
The joiners that snap-close, thus forming the seat for the pane, do not ensure a constant and repeatable pressure transversally to the pane, hence a connection safety that is able to support even accidental impacts.
Furthermore, the snap joiners that are used do not have a high mechanical strength, unless the thickness of the frame sides is oversized, in which case the aesthetics of the wall is compromised, which is to the detriment of the overall safety, especially in the case that heavy panes are used, as the soundproof multilayer panels.
Finally, the described frame structure has a considerable designing complexity of the environment in which it will be arranged, and of the installation thereof, which makes it unsuitable to solutions where the movable wall has to be uninstalled and subsequently frequently reinstalled, such as, for example, in offices.